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SEQUENCE:18850395
CREATED:20130921T170300Z
DESCRIPTION:The Albany City Council, East Bay Regional Parks district, and the Sierra
Club have all teamed up to once again try and evict the amazing community
of people that live on the Bulb, walk it with their dogs, and do art at the
space. On Saturday, September 28th, starting at 5pm, people will gather at
the space to share food, stories, discuss how to defend the Bulb and at
8pm, Blackbird RAUM from Santa Cruz will play live! \n\nSaturday, September
28th @ 5pm\nMeet at Main Entrance of Albany Bulb\n1 Buchanan Street, Off of
HW 80, Buchanan Street/Albany Exit\nLIVE MUSIC @ 8pm!\n\nGather at 5pm for
potluck, food sharing, and community open mic and discussion on saving the
Albany Bulb. At 8pm join us for a live concert from Santa Cruz band
Blackbird RAUM! Please invite friends, print flyers, make signs and
banners, and bring a food dish, story, song, speech or something else to
share!\n\nFacebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/601550023221411/\nListen to Blackbird RAUM
here: http://www.last.fm/music/Blackbird+Raum\n\n In 1986, the Albany
Landfill closed. BART construction materials, rebar, and other heavy metals
and materials from local industry were buried in the ground no longer. A
homeless community soon moved in, many after being evicted from People’s
Park, creating an encampment on the land just a few miles outside of
Berkeley. Soon after, many graffiti artists and other renegade
expressionists started to use what was dubbed the “Albany Bulb,” as a
playground for artwork. In 1999, the city of Albany moved to have the
homeless community living on the Bulb removed. The eviction didn’t work
for long, as soon after, people began moving back and the Bulb remained as
popular as ever. People came to see the statues that were created out of
landfill debris, just as they came to walk their dogs off leash, and to
enjoy the spectacular view of the San Francisco bay area that stretched out
before them. Like People’s Park, the Albany Bulb was important because it
represented a space that belonged to the people; it was contested and
fought over, and more importantly it was user controlled and operated, and
it was beautiful. Created out of unwanted parts of this civilization, both
of people and debris, nature and humanity slowly came together and took
back the land, creating something wonderful for all. \n The Albany Bulb
continues to be self-organized and autonomous. 60-70 people live at the
Bulb at any given time, and by and large they work out differences, deal
with problems from those coming to party at the Bulb, and also live with
constant police harassment with a government structure telling them how to
exist. With the city of Albany having no homeless shelter and lack of
low-income housing in Berkeley at epidemic proportions, police officers
rousting those sleeping on the streets often tell people to ‘go to the
Bulb.’ Thus, while the city is now trying to evict those living on the
Bulb, often it was their police who told them to head towards it in the
first place. \n A myriad of ruling forces currently seek to end the freedom
that exists on the Bulb, which is slated for eviction in October 2013. This
includes both the Citizens of East Shore Parks, which includes former
Albany Mayor, Robert Cheasty, and the Sierra Club. Both groups have
stressed that removal of the homeless is needed to return the Bulb over the
park service which can then remove the non-native plants and give the park
“back the public.” Both groups have painted the homeless as having
“polluted” the land, and as “privatizing” it, like the “World
Bank.” The local elites speak of protecting nature and stopping people
from taking space, but it is they who spread death in the natural world and
suck like vampires from the poor. They talk about ‘social justice’ and
‘the earth’ while they act to destroy freedom and human lives. \n The
desire to evict and gentrify the Albany Bulb cannot be divorced from the
wider context of the bay area. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected
to be pushed out from San Francisco in the next several years, mostly
moving into the East Bay, displacing and removing thousands of long term
residents. Many people, especially those with access to more money, will
settle in the Berkeley/Albany area. Evicting the Bulb is not just about the
Regional Park district expanding their territory and gaining another park,
but also social cleansing of the East Bay. \n Also, police agencies, which
have been flooded recently by a barrage of funds by the Department of
Homeland Security in an effort to deal with the Occupy Movement, are poised
in Albany to take on the renegade homeless population. We have already seen
the heavy handed response by local police (both Albany PD and UCB Police)
to the Occupy the Farm protests, which sought to take over UC Berkeley
property and farm organic food for the bay area community. Local police
departments are just looking for reasons to attack an autonomous grouping
of people living outside of the law. \n The eviction of the Albany Bulb
must not be allowed to continue. We must preserve the current autonomous
zone for not only all that live there, but also all those that use it, not
just as an art space, but also as a place where people come to hike, take
their dogs, and simply enjoy in a free and autonomous capacity. We must
stand and defend contested and self-organized space in the face of those
that would take it – especially for ‘environmental’ and
‘community’ reasons. The Albany Bulb is the place where we take lovers,
where we do art, where we let our dogs off leash, where we live, where we
look across the ocean on a castle, and where we enjoy the naked beauty of
nature, art, and human beings coexisting. But most of all, it is a place
that we have watched the disgusting garbage of this civilization become the
backdrop for something magnificent and amazing. It is worth fighting for
and it is worth defending. \n
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/09/21/18743570.php
SUMMARY:Community Gathering to Save Albany Bulb with Live Music!
LOCATION:Meet at Main Entrance of Albany Bulb\n1 Buchanan Street, Off of HW 80,
Buchanan Street/Albany Exit
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/09/21/18743570.php
DTSTART:20130929T000000Z
DTEND:20130929T050000Z
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